Reputation Tour

The kids and I had such a great time last weekend.  I received tickets for Taylor Swift's Reputation tour for Christmas, and the date finally rolled around.  This tour was every bit as good as her 1989 tour which Brian and I saw back in 2015.  Taylor Swift definitely knows how to put on a show.  There were large props, light up wrist bands, great choreography, and a fantastic music set.  The concert took place in the still new Mercedes Benz stadium- this was our first time here.  Wow, what a nice venue.  Taylor opened with "Are You Ready For It", closed with "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things", and sang many of our favorites in between.  The kids and I were dancing and singing along throughout the entire show.  We are glad that we arrived early enough to catch the opening acts- Charlie XCX and Camilla Cabello- who were also very good.  This, along with the other Taylor Swift concert that I've attended, rank as my top two concert experiences ever.  

Since we were already in Atlanta, we decided to hit up White Water on Sunday morning before we headed home.  White Water is the stand-alone Six Flags water park, and we've never been there. We arrived early and stayed for about two and a half hours.  It wasn't busy when we arrived, so we were able to knock out a lot of the slides in a short amount of time.  This was a nice park.  It was shady and had a good variety of slides.  The kids and I all agree that we rank it the third best water park that we've been to after Schlitterbaun and Aquatica.  We were able to use our Six Flags passes here, so I didn't spend a dime in the park.  This brings our season pass total to:

Number of visits: 4

Number of parks visited: 4

The Big Chicken (KFC) was literally right down the road from White Water.  This is one one of those weird, well-known "only-in-your-state" places that always make the kitschy count-downs.  You can't tell from the picture, but the bird's beak opens and closes and its eyes roll around.  It was regular KFC fare, but they did have a little museum-like info area with history about the restaurant and inside.   After our meal, we began our journey home.  It really was a great weekend.

Live and Counting Crows

 The first full week of school ended on a high note as Brian and I attended a Live and Counting Crows concert at Daily's Place in Jacksonville.  These are two favorite bands from my younger days, and they haven't lost much with time.  Live sounded exactly like they did in the nineties, and the singer for Counting Crows still has a voice as well.  Brian and I had  seats that were front-and-center, and we had a fantastic time.

Movin' on Up to Middle School

Another school year has begun, and the big news here is that we have a middle schooler.  Olivia has had a great start to her year.  A lot of her friends are in her classes, and she likes all of her teachers.  She is really excited to be taking band and will be learning to play the french horn.  She is also on the middle school robotics team and has already attended a few practices.  I hope that the whole year goes as well for her as these first few weeks has.

Owen has also had a great start.  He is in fifth grade, so it is his turn to "rule the school".  He likes his teachers and has done well in his classes so far.